Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Free Money Finance: Pennies Add Up to Millions

"...$5 a day over 40 years and invested at 10% yields almost $1.1 million. Isyour daily Starbucks coffee worth a fully-funded retirement when you can drink acheaper version of the same thing that costs a fraction of the price? This isthe heart of what Bach talks about. And this is the heart of the posthighlighted above -- a belief that I agree with. No, I'm not saying that youcan't spend on luxuries or other things that make life fun/worth living. Whowould want to live that way anyway? But I am saying that we all have some littlebit of spending we could do without and if we do choose to do without it, savingand investing that money can add up to a big sum."

"Yahoo Finance has a list of ten money drains along with the annual costs of each of them. I view this as a list of where we all can save a bundle of money. Here's their list as well asthe annual amounts spent on each of them (in other words, what you could save ifyou eliminated them):1. Coffee -- $360 per year.2. Cigarettes -- $1,660 a year.3. Alcohol -- $3,650 per year.4. Bottled water from convenience stores -- $365 per year.5. Manicures -- $1,068 per year.6. Car washes -- $348 per year.7. Weekday lunches out -- $2,350 a year.8. Vending machines snacks -- $260 per year.9. Interest charges on credit card bills -- $4,868 in interest (overtime).10. Unused memberships -- $480 per year"